Kerry Easily Wins

State And Town In Primary Vote

By Susan Haigh Associated Press

HARTFORD — Largely overlooked by the candidates in the run-up to Super Tuesday, Connecticut’s Democratic presidential primary ended in a commanding victory for Senator John Kerry but was marked by poor turnout.

By late Tuesday night, with 128 towns reporting, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz’s office said about 23 percent of registered Democrats had gone to the polls.

That’s less than the 29 percent turnout in 2000, when Vice President Al Gore faced former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley.

Newtown Democrats followed the trend in Super Tuesday voting by favoring Sen Kerry, who received 634 of the 953 votes cast locally.

The turnout in Newtown, at 27 percent of the 3,500 registered Democrats, was slightly better than participation statewide.

North Carolina Senator John Edwards came in second in Newtown with 223 votes.

Other candidates, some who have dropped out of the race since the ballot was created, received the following totals in local voting: Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, 12; Lyndon LaRouche, Jr, 1; Dennis Kucinich, 22; Howard Dean, 36; Wesley Clark, 10; Al Sharpton, 13; and uncommitted, 2.

The statewide turnout was disappoint to the secretary of the state. “I was hoping for greater turnout because we had more candidates. But I really think because of ... the emerging national consensus that Kerry is the strongest Democratic candidate, fewer people were inspired,” Ms Bysiewicz said.

Ms Bysiewicz had predicted turnout of 30 percent to 35 percent.

Preliminary totals showed Mr Kerry had 58 percent of the vote, Mr Edwards had 24 percent, and Mr Lieberman received 5 percent.

While Democrats cheered Mr Kerry’s victory, the celebration was slightly muted because Mr Lieberman had dropped out before the primary.

“It’s exhilarating but bittersweet,” said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who became a Kerry campaign co-chairman shortly after Mr Lieberman withdrew from the race. “This victory, I feel, is a magic moment in our political history because it marks a turning point. There’s a sense of momentum and enthusiasm.”

Of the active candidates before Tuesday’s balloting only the Rev Al Sharpton campaigned in the state. Mr Kerry and Mr Edwards had focused on larger states holding primaries Tuesday such as California and Ohio.

An Associated Press exit poll found that Democrats voting in the Connecticut primary were overwhelmingly dissatisfied with President Bush and thought Mr Kerry was the candidate most likely to defeat him.

Shirley Kriaski, 52, of Glastonbury, an information technology programmer who expects to lose her job by the end of the month, said she is upset with President Bush about the lack of jobs in this country and the war in Iraq. Ms Kriaski said she supports “whoever can beat Bush.”

Some New Haven voters said they favored Mr Kerry, both for his policies and because they think he has the best shot of beating Mr Bush.

“I love that Kerry,” said Shirley Herring, a retired home health care aide. “He seems like he’s going to be the one.”

Voter Helen Burkhardt, 74, of Glastonbury, said she liked Mr Edwards for his youth, enthusiasm and ideas, but decided to vote for Mr Kerry.

“I would love to vote for Edwards but I just don’t think he’s going to be in the running,” said Ms Burkhardt, who said she hoped Mr Kerry ultimately chooses Mr Edwards as his running mate.

Voters chose from five active candidates: Mr Kerry, Mr Edwards, Mr Sharpton, Ohio Rep Dennis Kucinich, and Lyndon LaRouche of Virginia.

Three others — Mr Lieberman, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, and retired General Wesley Clark — dropped out of the race after the ballots were printed. By law, a ninth spot on the ballot, marked “uncommitted,” was also listed.

Shortly after the polls closed Mr Edwards dropped out of the race. Joe Courtney, state coordinator for the campaign, said he still hopes the senator will be tapped as a vice presidential candidate.

“He left this race as highly respected, if not more highly respected, than he was when he started. That’s not easy,” said Mr Courtney, who acknowledged Mr Edwards did not plan on winning in Connecticut.

Mr Courtney was waiting to see how many delegates Mr Edwards earned.

Connecticut has 61 delegates to the convention. Twelve are so-called “superdelegates” who can support any candidate they choose, while the remaining 49 are doled out to candidates who get more than 15 percent of the vote in a district.

Despite Tuesday’s poor turnout, state Democratic Party Chairman George Jepsen said he believes Democrats are excited about Mr Kerry and their chances of defeating President Bush in November.

“Democrats are angry at the extreme right-wing Republican Congress and George Bush,” Mr Jepsen said. “They’re out to win this year.”